Effect of herringbone groove structure parameters on the static performance of gas foil herringbone groove thrust bearings

The application of foil bearings technology into high speed and heavy load turbine machinery with high axial force is limited because of the insufficient load capacity of gas foil thrust bearings. This paper presents a new type gas foil thrust bearing, engraving the herringbone groove on the top foil surface of gas thrust foil bearing, relying on the pumping effect of herringbone grooves, so that the bearing load capacity of gas foil thrust bearings can be further improved by using the secondary pressure boosting effect of herringbone grooves on the basis of taper dynamic pressure effect. The physical models of non-groove gas foil thrust bearing and gas foil herringbone groove thrust bearings are established. The Reynolds equation, gas film thickness equation and foil deformation equation are coupling solved by finite difference method to obtain gas film thickness distribution and gas film pressure distribution for non-groove and herringbone grooves gas foil thrust bearing. The effects of the number of grooves, groove depth, groove width ratio, groove angle of the herringbone groove and the Taper inlet height on the friction torque, bearing load capacity and ultimate load capacity of the herringbone grooves gas foil thrust bearing are researched. Furthermore, when compared to the traditional non-groove gas foil thrust bearing, the optimal herringbone groove structure parameters are obtained, and a feasible method for optimizing the performance of gas foil thrust bearings is proposed. • New type gas foil herringbone groove thrust bearing is proposed. • The effects of herringbone groove structural parameters (groove depth, number of grooves, groove width ratio and groove angle) and bearing structural parameters on the static characteristics of the new type gas foil herringbone groove thrust bearing were studied and clarified. • The static characteristics of the new type gas foil herringbone groove thrust bearing in the ultimate load condition (ecc>0.9) were analyzed. • Obtain optimal herringbone groove structure parameters using simulation calculations.